House Bound
by SiriusMarauderFan
Summary: It's time for Severus to rethink his lifestyle when he's put on bed rest. one shot.
1. Story

**Author's Note:** Written for…

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. _Team/Position:_ Montrose Magpies, Chaser 1. _Task:_ Write about a Death Eater (Severus) at home. _Prompts:_ inappropriate, (dialogue) "If you don't eat your vegetables, you can't have any pudding.", (emotion) anger

 **House Bound**

There was something incredibly disorienting about waking up when you had no memory of having gone to sleep. Severus had experienced this many times in his life, but this was much worse.

He woke in his bedroom, a bright room made brighter by the open blinds. It should have been comforting to know he was safe in his own house, but that was the very thing that scared him the most. It was mid-April, the start of the second term, and he wasn't due home for another two months.

He sat up slowly, closing his eyes against the spinning room, and tried to remember what had happened. He would only have come home willingly if there was an emergency, and surely he would remember that.

The door creaked and he squinted through the light to see Hermione peek her head in.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly, slipping fully into the room.

"Like I've been stupefied. What happened?"

She sat at the edge of the bed and smoothed down his sleep-tousled hair. "You collapsed in the middle of a lesson."

Now that she mentioned it, he did remember feeling a little light-headed and breakfast and morning classes. It wasn't unusual after several late nights in a row, but collapsing was a new development. He wanted to brush it off like he did every other ailment, but the look in his wife's eyes told him not to take this lightly.

"What did Pomfrey say about it?"

"It's fatigue. She said you're not taking care of yourself, and I completely agree."

"She's exaggerating. I was probably hit by the fumes from some dunderhead's botched potion. I'm fine now." He made to get up from the bed but Hermione pushed him back onto the pillows.

"Nice try, but I think I'll take the Healer's word on this one. I've watched you starve yourself and stay up all night in your lab enough to know exactly how you got yourself in this position. If I hadn't been so scared when I got Minerva's owl, I might've been happy your body is finally revolting. Maybe now you'll start listening to me."

Severus sighed and sat up again. He didn't bother to try and get out of bed with his angry wife within arm's reach, so he opted for resting against the headboard.

"I have to go back to work," he said quietly. He wasn't about to argue the point of his self-care right now, but there were still students who needed teaching.

"Minerva's called in Slughorn. You're on sick leave for a week at least."

"At least?"

"How soon you go back to work depends on how much rest you get."

"I can rest at Hogwarts."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "If you go back before the week is up, I'll be forced to come and get you myself. I think it might be a tiny bit inappropriate for a professor to be sent to the Headmistress' office in the middle of a class."

Severus glared at her. "You wouldn't dare."

"I would if it keeps you from overworking yourself. Now, you're welcome to come downstairs, but you'll be on the couch for the whole day. Your office is obviously off limits." At his continued glaring, Hermione reached over and patted his arm soothingly. "I know it's hard for you to let go for a while, but think of it as a holiday. You have a whole shelf full of books you wanted to read."

He turned away with a frustrated huff. Truth be told, time away from the loud and drafty dungeons sounded like a blessing. Severus was always tired by the end of March, and he couldn't think of any way he'd rather spend some time off than reading alongside his wife in front of the fireplace or out in the garden. Their uninterrupted summers together were his favourite time of year.

But it wasn't summer just yet. He still had two months to go through before he could allow himself to relax fully, and being forced to stay at home had the exact opposite of the desired effect. Now that he had no choice but to rest, he itched to be in his lab.

His stomach growled loudly, and suddenly Severus was aware that the last time he'd eaten had been well over twenty-four hours before. He vaguely recalled having skipped a meal in favour of finishing restocking the infirmary's potion supply before morning classes began.

"You slept through breakfast," Hermione told him as she stood and headed for the door. "I'll go fix you a plate of something."

When she was gone, Severus quietly slid out of bed and slowly made his way to the window, thankful that the dizziness had subsided.

The bedroom window overlooked the back garden which, considering Severus had spent more than half of his life with Hogwarts as his home, seemed rather small. But it was perfect. When he and Hermione were first married and searching for a home, the garden had been one of the features to sell them on the house.

It wasn't anything particularly special, or unique, but it was quiet and secluded. The entire yard was surrounded by tall trees that allowed just enough sunlight in to have a small bed of rose bushes. Even from high up, Severus could see the small buds beginning to form and smiled to himself, remembering how happy it had made Hermione when the flowers had bloomed for the first time.

He stayed at the window until Hermione returned with a tray laden with too much food for just one person. Tea, lemonade, grilled chicken, carrot sticks, buttered rolls, and a bowl of pudding. She set the tray down at the foot of the bed and quickly pulled the pudding away again, keeping it behind her back as she pulled Severus to his lunch.

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you can't have any pudding," she told him in the same tone she used when they babysat Teddy.

Severus shook his head, but obediently sat and ate his meal without any trouble. Though he would never admit it, he was rather fond pudding.

"Can we sit in the garden when I'm finished?" he asked hopefully.

"I … I guess that's fine, as long as you're resting."

"You seem surprised that I asked."

"I am, a little," she admitted, shifting on the bed. "I expected you to put up more of a fight about going back to work."

Severus shrugged, pushing away his empty plate. "I was going to, but I remember something very important."

"Oh? What's that?"

"I love spending time with you more than I do brewing potions. And maybe you're right about my unhealthy work habits. Maybe."

Hermione laughed, handing over his dessert. "Does this mean you'll finally start to take better care of yourself? Or am I going to have to ask Kreacher to bring meals to your room every night?"

"As long as there's pudding, I'll eat whatever you want."


	2. Author's Note

**Author's Note:** (when judging for QLFC is over I'll put all this as an end A/N but I can't update the story until then)

A guesty brought to my attention the Easter holidays. Usually I do away with them completely in my stories because they were, in my opinion, never explained (length, celebration) well enough in the books. For this story I did my research and learned the Easter holidays are a week long and students can go home like at Christmas.

My Sevmione headcanon, most of which I wasn't able to fit into the story, was that Sev only goes home for Christmas. Students are given lots of homework of Easter, and I figured he would have work to do as well. However, Hermione would come and stay with him at Hogwarts for that week. She also lives in his quarters during weekends throughout the year, and whenever one of them has a bad night.

I wish I could have found a way to fit all of that in. Maybe in another fic. Also this is set in 2004. Hermione is 26. They've been married for three years. They live in the countryside. Sev didn't want to live in Hogsmeade, though it would have meant seeing Hermione more often, because he would've run into students.

:)


End file.
